Running Out of Time
by Joseph Haney
Summary: With Central City's other heroes off dealing with the crisis, Allegra Garcia tries her hand at the super hero thing. It turns out, fighting crime is harder than it appears - but that's nothing compared to the end of the world.


When Allegra Garcia had left her apartment, she wasn't looking for trouble. All she had wanted to do was to get to Star Labs to find out what was going on with the red skies and where the hell all the extra people had come from. Instead, she had stumbled onto an attempted mugging in an alley just down the street from her building.

Six weeks ago, she would have kept walking, and every instinct she had told her to do just that. And maybe she could have if the victim hadn't been a young woman about her age or if she wasn't being harassed by three thugs, or, most especially, if she hadn't met Allegra's gaze and called for help. As it was, she'd been spending too much time with The Flash and his friends lately for her to just walk away from this. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the alley.

"Why don't you guys pick on someone your own size?" Allegra asked as she approached, trying to exude a confidence she didn't really feel. The trio looked over at her, sneering as they sized her up. She clenched her fists and attempted to focus her powers. She still didn't quite have the hang of them yet, but she was hoping she could scare them off just by revealing that she had powers. It was a gamble, but it was the closest thing she had to a plan.

"And who's going to make us?" one of the thugs asked as he stepped toward her. He was the shortest of the three, but he was still taller than her by a good three inches and, much like his cohorts, was more than muscular enough to be a threat on his own. As he approached, Allegra noticed the knife in his hand, which made her seriously regret her decision.

But, she thought somberly, there was no going back now. "If I have to," she said, looking the thug in the eye. "But no one needs to get hurt if you just walk away."

The thug let out a menacing chuckle as he took another menacing step forward, his partners echoing both his laugh and his movement. None of them seemed to notice that their original victim was now hurrying toward the far side of the alley. Allegra relaxed slightly as she saw her disappear around the corner. Whatever happened next, at least this wasn't a completely empty gesture.

Her attention was brought back to the thugs as the leader grabbed her arm. "You talk a big game," he snarled. "Let's see if you can back it up."

Reacting on pure instinct, she brought her free hand up and fired a burst of ultraviolet energy at the thug's chest. He let out a cry as he stumbled back, grabbing his chest. His partners froze, unsure of what to do.

Allegra glanced between the three of them, feeling much more confident. "So," she said with a small smirk. "Are we going to play nice now?" The first thug was still writhing and his partners looked like they wanted to leave. Not a bad first attempt at being a hero, all things considered, she thought confidently.

"What are you waiting for?" the leader said. "Get her!"

Allegra's smirk immediately faded as the other thugs immediately began moving toward her again. They didn't seem as confident as before, but they were no less determined as they quickly advanced on her.

"Stay back," she warned, though she could hear the confidence in her voice wavering. She aimed an attack at one of the thugs, only this time it didn't do anything. She tried again with the same result and she felt her fear setting in. The thugs seemed to sense it too as their grins returned. Before she could turn to run, they each grabbed one of her arms and pinned her against the wall.

"Let me go!" she shouted, struggling against their grip. In response, one punched her in the stomach. As she doubled over, the other drove his knee into her chest. She'd barely straightened up before one of them hit her hard across the face and with the fourth punch she could taste blood in her mouth. In between blows, she saw that their leader had gotten to his feet and slowly began advancing toward her, pulling a switchblade from his pocket.

"I'm going to enjoy making you bleed, freak," he growled as he slunk toward her.

Before Allegra could respond, something shot down the alley, knocking the knife from the thug's hand. Relief washed over Allegra as she looked to the end of the alleyway, seeing Frost standing there with a smirk on her face.

"Three against one hardly seems like a fair fight, boys," she said, strutting toward the group. "Let's see if we can't even the odds a bit."

The leader gestured for one of the thugs to go after Frost and after a moment of hesitation, he complied. Allegra swung her free hand around, grabbing the remaining thug's arm and focusing her powers again. She felt the skin heat up under her grip and he quickly let her go. Now free, she aimed a kick at his crotch, dropping him.

As she turned around, she saw that Frost had dispatched the other thug and had turned her attention to the leader. "Still want to dance, big boy?" she asked.

The thug glanced between them and Allegra definitely got the impression that he did not, in fact, want to dance. That didn't stop him from trying. He lunged toward Allegra again only to end up with his feet encased in ice. He cursed as he struggled against the ice, but he was well and truly stuck. Even so, Allegra moved away from him and toward Frost.

"Are you alright?" Frost asked, her voice a bit softer with a hint of concern.

Allegra gave a half shrug. "I've survived worse than that," she said.

Frost nodded. "Let's get out of here," she said, turning and walking away. Allegra followed her out of the alley. Once they turned the corner, Frost activated her comm.

"Everything's clear here, Cisco," she said. "Allegra and I could use a ride back to the lab. Oh, and call CCPD and tell them they've got some trash to pick up out here."

Before Allegra could say anything, a portal opened up in front of them. Frost strode toward it and Allegra quickly followed suit, stepping through into the STAR Labs control room. She felt the portal disappear behind them and she turned around. Cisco Ramone stood at the main control panel, dressed in his Vibe costume, but without the glasses..

"Wait…you have your powers back?" she asked.

"It's a long story and I don't want to talk about it," he said, not looking up from the monitors.

Before Allegra could say anything else, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw that Frost had been replaced Caitlin Snow. "I just want to check you out," she said with a small smile as she led Allgra to the medical lab. "Make sure thugs didn't break anything."

Allegra sat down on the lab's bed, wincing slightly as she did so. "So what the hell has been going on?" she asked. "The skies turned red, Cisco has his powers back, The Flash and you and Iris all disappeared…" She frowned. "Is this the crisis?"

"It was," Caitlin said. She then went on to explain everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, from the antimatter wave to the alternate earths to the seven paragons who are supposed to undo the damage. Allgera took it all in, processing it as best as she could.

"That…that's a lot to deal with," she said.

"Eh, it's kind of par for the course for the crossover," Caitlin said. "Although this year it is a bigger deal…" She shook her head. "Either way, the main threat's passed, so now its just a matter of undoing it and restoring the multiverse."

"Is that even possible?" Allegra asked as Caitlin began her examination. "Where are we even supposed to start?"

Caitlin glanced up at her with a small smile. "We?"

Allegra looked away, embarrassed. "I meant the Flash and you guys," she said.

Caitlin was quiet for a moment before continuing. "I have no idea how we're going to do it," she said. "Or even how to start. But that's the paragon's problem. And they've got plenty of help up on the Waverider. Cisco, Ralph, and I are trying to take care of things here in Central City in the meantime. And so are you, by the looks of it."

"Some help," Allegra said with a small sigh. "Getting myself outnumbered and nearly beaten senseless because my damn powers didn't work right."

"I assume you got in that situation for a reason?"

"Yeah, they were trying to mug someone," Allegra said with a sigh. "She got away, though."

"That's not nothing," Caitlin said pointedly

"I guess so," Allegra said. "How'd you guys know I was in trouble anyway?"

"We didn't," Caitlin said. "Not specifically. We picked up a surge in ultraviolet light near your apartment and figured either you were using your powers or your cousin was, and either way we should probably check it out."

"I see," Allegra replied. "Well…thank her for me, will you?"

Caitlin nodded, turning her attention back to her work. Allegra sat quietly as she finished the examination.

"Well you seem to be in good shape for someone who got into a fight with three guys nearly twice her size," Caitlin said after she finished. "Just ice the bruises and take some aspirin to deal with the swelling and you'll be alright."

"Well that's good," Allegra said as she stood. She took a deep breath and shook her head. "And again, just…thanks for everything. You and Frost both, I'm…I'm grateful." She let out a small sigh. "I guess I'm just not cut out to be a superhero like you or Barry or Ralph."

"I don't know," Caitlin said. "Running into that alleyway was pretty heroic. But, if it's not want you want that's okay too. You're doing good work with Iris and the paper. I can tell you have a passion for it." She put a reassuring hand on Allegra's shoulder. "Just know that, if you ever need help with your powers or a situation like today, Team Flash will be here to help."

Allegra smiled. "Thanks," she said. "That's good to know." She turned to leave, pausing at the door. "Um…Caitlin?" she said as she turned around.

"Yes?"

"Could…could I talk to Frost for a second?"

Caitlin nodded and an instant later her hair began to turn white, her skin paled and her eyes turned a icy blue. "What's up?" Frost asked.

Allegra shifted nervously. "Well," she said. "I…I was wondering –"

She was cut off as warning sirens in the lab began blaring. Frost moved toward the door and into the main control room. Allegra wasted no time in following.

"Cisco what's going on?" Frost asked.

Cisco was staring at the monitor in disbelief. "The antimatter wave," he said. "It…it's back. And its heading right for us."

"How long until it gets here?" Allegra asked.

Cisco looked up. "About thirty seconds," he said, his voice quiet. "I…I need to call Kamilla." He hurried out of the room.

The weight of his words hit Allegra like a ton of bricks. A range of emotions ran through her but the one that lingered, much to her surprise, was regret. Regret for all of the things she didn't say or do with her life, or even just in the last few moments. Her eyes drifted up to meet Frost's, who looked just as defeated as Allegra felt.

"You…you were about to ask me something?" Frost asked.

Allegra shook her head. "It doesn't matter now," she said. "I…I was just going to ask if you wanted to get coffee or something. As…as a thank you for earlier."

"Oh," Frost said in surprise. A small smile spread across her face. "I…I would have liked that."

Allegra returned the smile as she felt a rush of energy moving toward her, like a powerful wave of static electricity. She held her gaze on Frost's face as the control room glowed bright red, continuing to get brighter and brighter as everything disappeared around her. The last thing she saw before everything went black was Frost, the smile still on her face.


End file.
